The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has announced an investigation into the review policies of sharing economy platforms as part of an international initiative targeting fake reviews and endorsements.

As CHOICE head of media Tom Godfrey says “With many consumers relying on user reviews to help inform their purchasing decisions, it’s concerning to think that around 15% of all online reviews are fake.”

This is exactly why we created Trusttd.

With the Trusttd platform, ONLY genuine, paying customers are invited to and able to leave a rating.

We can do this through our unique integration with the sales platforms and shopping carts used by digital product marketers. This integration makes the review invitation and collection process both automated (saving you time) and robust (meaning your customers can trust what they read).

In using Trusttd digital marketers demonstrate their transparency to their potential customers and that they have nothing to hide.

It’s a way of differentiating yourself to all those other marketers out there. You know the ones we mean…

Customers not buying from you no matter how hard you’re working, no matter how much work you’ve put into your product?

You’re not alone.

Thousands of info product creators, marketers, coaches and wantrapreneurs are trying to convince potential customers to buy their stuff every day.

And some – in fact more than just some – of them are doing nothing more than selling modern-day snake oil.

So how does a customer know whether you’re the world’s best <insert your thing here>, or the world’s best purveyor snake oil?

How do they know that can trust you with their money, with their time and with their attention?

Ultimately trust is a psychological bond between individuals. At the end of the day, there’s a real person at one end of the transaction getting their credit card out, and they want – need – to know the person at the other end of that transaction has their best interests heart.

So here are three key behaviours employed by successful marketers to help increase customer confidence and likelihood of generating a sale from the relationship. Trust doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time.

Reciprocity

Has someone ever done you a favour and you felt compelled to help them out when you next had the opportunity, even if it was a much later point in time?

That’s the concept of reciprocity in action.

As an online marketer there are numerous ways you can provide value up front to a prospect, which in time will convert some of them to customers once they see the value you are providing.

Here’s just a few ideas, depending on what type of products you offer:

blog posts or giveaway eBooks full of free, relevant, legitimate value that stands on its own;

podcasts and interviews with luminaries relevant to your target audience;

free appraisals, assessments or initial consultations;

survey results with insights relevant to your target audience;

infographics and slide decks; and

free templates and checklists.

Commitment

Not that sort of commitment.

Micro-commitments can be a significant step to garnering larger commitments over time.

Micro-commitments are lower-risk, lower obligation commitments that start a relationship of buying into what you have to offer and giving you the opportunity to earn more trust by the value you provide.

Examples of the types of commitments you can construct that help build a strong foundation of trust include: